I sat down with Nosh editor Tovin Lapan and Nosh reporter Skylla Mumana to talk through three restaurants that recently opened in Oakland — and what each one tells us about the state of the city’s dining scene right now.
You can read about all three below, listen to the full conversation above, or find it on Apple, YouTube, or anywhere you get podcasts.
Bar Skula is a “Luka’s remix,” and a bet on Oakland
Bar Skula just opened on Grand Avenue, not far from the Lake Merritt pergola, in the space that used to house Sidebar. It’s from Maria Alderete and Rick Mitchell, the couple behind Luka’s Taproom, the restaurant and bar often credited with helping catapult the revitalization of Uptown Oakland. They closed Luka’s in January 2022 after they couldn’t negotiate a new lease with their landlord.
Now they’re back, calling the new spot a “Luka’s remix.” A lot of the old crew is involved, including chef Wilson Mendez, Luka’s very first employee, who stuck around for all 18 years it was open, and founding chef Jacob Alioto. Jared Hirsch, Sidebar’s former bar manager, designed the cocktail menu, paying tribute to the space’s most recent past as much as its Luka’s-era history.
The menu is seafood-focused, drawing on Alderete and Mitchell’s travels through Mexico, Central and South America, alongside vintage Luka’s favorites like the burger and fries. Oakland muralist Pancho Pescador painted underwater scenes on the walls, inspired partly by an old Oaklandside story about the creatures that actually live in Lake Merritt.
Read the story: Azucena Rasilla’s reporting on Bar Skula
Gwyneth Paltrow’s goop kitchen landed in the East Bay — and it’s a little confused about where it is
Goop kitchen, the delivery-only food arm of Gwyneth Paltrow’s wellness brand, opened a ghost kitchen out of the Adeline Food Hall this month. There’s just one wrinkle: it’s branded “Berkeley goop kitchen,” even though the kitchen itself sits in Oakland.
Goop’s co-founder and CEO told Nosh the branding follows where deliveries go, not where the kitchen sits, since most orders from this hub head to Berkeley addresses. Online, some people had other theories about why Oakland’s name didn’t make the cut.
As for the food, Nosh reporter Skylla Mumana found it just “fine”: a gummy gluten-free pizza, a chicken salad saved only by its vinaigrette, a brownie that could’ve used more lusciousness, and a solid teriyaki bowl. It delivers on the health-conscious promise, but in a region full of fast-casual spots already doing fresh, ingredient-driven food well, it didn’t do much to stand out beyond the celebrity name attached to it.
Read the story: Skylla Mumana’s review of goop kitchen
Reem’s finally comes home to Oakland as a worker-owned flagship
Reem Assil opened the original Reem’s in Fruitvale back in 2017, modeled on the Arab corner bakeries she remembered from Damascus and Beirut. That location closed in 2021, and since then Reem’s has operated in the Mission and at the San Francisco Ferry Building — but nothing more in Oakland, until now.
The new flagship, at 85 Webster Street in Jack London Square, had its grand opening in late June. It’s the first Reem’s built around a worker-ownership model, run by three worker-owners — Rebeca Cid del Prado, Diana Aguirre, and Angela Lima — who all came up through Reem’s apprenticeship program, created during the pandemic with funding from the Emerson Collective.
Assil told Nosh it’s “been a hole in our heart” not serving the Oakland community directly for five years.
The menu closely tracks the old Ferry Building offerings, with wraps, zaatar mini-pita, and muhammara dip, plus new dishes reflecting the new owners’ backgrounds in Mexico and El Salvador.
Read the story: Madeline Taub’s reporting on Reem’s worker-owned flagship
Nosh’s pop-up food festival returns July 18
Before letting Tovin and Skylla go, we previewed Pop Nosh, Nosh’s third annual pop-up food festival, happening July 18 at Temescal Brewing, noon to 4 p.m.
This year’s vendor lineup includes Aku’s BBQ, Jade Lumpia Bar, Smash n’ Stack Burger Shack, Pie on the Fly, and Aces Ice Cream, plus music from DJ Wiley Coyote and raffle prizes. It’s free and family-friendly; RSVP below to let Nosh know you’re coming.
Read more and RSVP: Tovin’s preview of Pop Nosh 2026
Also discussed in this episode:
Oakland residents file hundreds of complaints each year about illegal fireworks
Betsy Lake confirmed as Oakland’s interim city administrator
Can Oakland’s stolen museum artifacts still be recovered?
When your name matches your job: 6 Oaklanders with aptronyms
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